As of: January 31, 2024, 8:57 p.m
By: Patrick Huljina
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Big-headed ants are changing the landscape in Kenya in subtle but devastating ways.
The effects extend to the kings of the savannah.
Frankfurt - “We often realize that it’s the little things that make the world go round,” says Todd Palmer.
He is a scientist at the University of Florida and co-author of a study that looks at a chain reaction in the Kenyan savanna ecosystem.
An invasive species of ant has disrupted the wildlife there through its influence and reconfigured the dynamics between predators and prey, especially among iconic species, as the research team reports in the journal Science.
This has even led to lions having to adapt their hunting tactics.
Scientists make significant discovery: Invasive ants trigger chain reaction
The research group led by Douglas Kamaru from the University of Wyoming reports that the chain reaction began as follows: Immigrant large-headed ants (Pheidole megacephala), also known as fat-headed ants, displaced the native crematogaster ants from the Kenyan savannah.
These ants usually live in the thorns of acacia trees and protect these trees like bodyguards.
When a herbivore tries to nibble on “their” tree, they attack it within seconds and bite painfully.
Even elephants are deterred by this and avoid these trees.
“To our great surprise, we found that these small ants are incredibly strong defenders and essentially stabilized the tree cover in these landscapes, allowing the acacia trees to survive in a place with so many large herbivorous mammals,” said Palmer, co-author of the study.
Unlike the Crematogaster ants, the fat-headed ants do not defend these trees.
Without the protection of ants, elephants eat and break five to seven times more trees than before, according to the study.
According to the study, flute acacias make up more than 70 to almost 100 percent of all woody trunks in the region.
Invasive ants in Kenya: Lions have to change their hunting behavior
But how does this affect the hunting behavior of lions in the Kenyan savannah?
The answer is simple: lions usually use the privacy of trees to sneak up on their prey, preferably plains zebras, inconspicuously.
Fewer trees mean less hunting success for the lions, as the zebras now have a better overview and can flee from their predators earlier.
In the Kenyan savannah, the invasive ant species has changed the hunting behavior of lions via an ecological chain reaction.
© Pat Milligan/dpa/University of Wyoming, IMAGO/Pond5 Images, Montage
The research team reports that the number of zebras killed by lions has fallen sharply due to the spread of big-headed ants.
The lions have therefore changed their hunting behavior and are now increasingly relying on Cape buffalo as a source of food.
However, they are significantly larger and more difficult to kill than zebras.
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“Nature is smart, and animals like lions tend to find solutions to problems they face,” Palmer explains.
The lion population in the region has not yet decreased.
“But we don’t yet know what could result from this profound change in the lions’ hunting strategy.” The researchers want to continue to monitor developments.
“Devastating effects”: Invasive ants now widespread
The large-headed ants have now spread from Australia, Madagascar and Africa via India to South and North America, as
tagesschau.de
reports.
There they cause significant damage by forming super colonies and displacing native ant species.
“These tiny invasive ants appeared maybe 15 years ago and none of us noticed because they are not aggressive towards large animals, including humans.
Now we see that they are changing landscapes in very subtle ways, but with devastating effects,” said the researchers in their study of the Kenyan savanna.
Since big-headed ants prefer a tropical climate, they have so far only played a minor role in Germany.
Last year, researchers described the red fire ant as one of the worst invasive species, with 88 nests discovered in Italy.
The noble orb spider, known as the “false widow,” is also extremely invasive.
Biologists recently made a spectacular discovery in Brazil: a giant anteater was spotted in the wild for the first time in more than 100 years.
(ph/dpa)
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